Every Day

27

This is Thing One. Our oldest. At eight going on 17, she’s the current leader of the under 5 foot tall brigade in our home. She’s also the absolute picture of a mother hen. Clucking around the boys trying to keep them in line, convince them where they should be and what they should be doing and taken care of them if Mr W or I are more than say…six feet away.

20

As a woman, I can’t say enough nice things about Birchbox. As a woman on a budget who has given up many of the things she loves in life (including the freedom to shop when I want), I can’t say enough about the happiness factor brought out by my monthly Birchbox shipments. Why? Because I’m a girl and I love surprises. Birchbox does an excellent job of delivering on both the girly factor and the surprise factor.

23

Growing up in a small town in Northeast Ohio, I never had a dog or a cat. I didn’t have a gerbil or a hamster or a rabbit. No…we had chickens. We lived right there in the middle of the city on a residential street with a fenced in backyard and a small little coop my father had built and a we had chickens.

It was thirty years ago…and my parents probably had no idea how popular backyard chickens would eventually become. Dad just didn’t like animals in the house and mom liked having eggs. So instead of playing fetch with a dog, I had a chicken that jumped for grapes. Instead of buying dog biscuits, mom made hot oatmeal in the cold winter months and I trudged out through the snow to deliver it.

13

Just received the December 2012 Birchbox in the mail today and feeling full of holiday cheer. This is my third box, and it’s easily the best yet. There are some great products in here and for the first time, I think I received a box where I’ll actually use every last item.

29

I absolutely adore Christmas. I can’t say I like putting up all the decorations very much, but once they’re up, I love being cozy in our living room by the fire with the mantle covered in pine and the tree softly glowing in the corner. The thing I like best about Christmas though is the excuse to give gifts.

19

The big 8th birthday Slumber Party has come and gone and we’ve not only survived, but thrived! In fact, I’m a little astonished at how well it all actually went. We’d only met one of the girls who was invited to the party before the event, so it was bit of a crap shoot, but I’m very happy to say Thing One has excellent taste in friends.

07

31

I’m not one of those people who gets all up in arms over potential weather threats. So when I went to Walmart last week and saw the bread aisle decimated, I had to laugh a little. We live in southwestern Pennsylvania, about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh, it’s not like we were exactly in the dangerous path of Sandy.

30

In general, we’ve never been “throw a big bash for our kid’s birthday” kind of people. That said, we have plenty of friends who do throw these parties and I know it’s a great chance to get family and friends together to have fun. From the time my kids were babies…birthdays have always been immediate family, grandparents and a cake I made myself.

27

One of my favorite things about my kid’s birthdays is having a great excuse to go a little wild in the test kitchen coming up with a super cool birthday cake they’ll go nuts over. I’ve build cakes from donuts, crafted a space ship with rocket booster birthday candles, I’ve made Spiderman…it always comes down to what theme they are excited about in any given year.

Who is A Flexible Life?

Hi, I'm Jennifer! I'm a wife, mother of three, small business owner and author. I de-stress from life with kitchen therapy, creative activities with the kids and ongoing DIY construction with my husband. We live life with rigid flexibility and that's just how we like it.